Paris Las Vegas

As a baptism by fire in my new job, I attended the SupplySide West
show in Las Vegas. Loved it! I got to meet many of our suppliers and
learned a whole lot. I learned about DHA/EPA omega-3s, the detailed
process of shipping herbs to the States, how CoQ10 works in the body,
new FDA regs, etc.

But Patricia had fun too. She took a lot of pictures and roamed about
the Paris hotel where we stayed and Venetian where the show was. We
ate at Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris (our favorite, but no pics), La
Creperie at Paris (wonderful crepes), and Tao at Venetian (classy,
club atmosphere and expensive). We also went to the Mandalay Bay hotel
one night to see if we could get a glimpse of Latin Grammys, but
instead all we saw is a bunch of people trying to get a glimpse too.

David

More Saguaro Lake Pics

Pato and Torie

Saguaro Lake

Here's some pictures of our last trip with the grandparents to Saguaro
Lake. Ryan and Summer, and Marcos
--
David

Patricia's eyes

These are the eyes I fell in love with.

David

Nono Danger Alert!

I believe our slightly deranged little tanguero of a grandfather is
starting to lose his short-term memory. Watch out! He forgets to turn
things off!

Keep this between us, because well, you know how he is.

I mean, we've all heard the story of how he almost burned down his
apartment building, but I imagined it was just a fluke. When just a
few weeks ago he left the stove on again and burned my favorite
thermos, I thought "fluke again".

But we had Nono over last night and today for Thanksgiving and I think
differently now.

1. In the middle of the night, Nono decided to roast a turkey. He put
the turkey in the oven, sat on the couch, and promptly fell asleep.
The oven was on all night. (Don't tell him I told you.)
2. He turned on the sink to wash dishes. Then he walked away and left
it running right into the drain.
3. He turned on the bathroom sink to do that thing you do. He left it
on for hours before Patricia realized.
4. Today the oven was turned on, and so he opened it to put his turkey
in to warm up. He left it open. Awhile later, after I came over to the
kitchen and closed the oven, he remembered why it was open.
5. He leaves the stove on a lot. He uses it to heat his hands up or to
heat up water for maté. I have a gas stove, which is more dangerous.
Thank goodness for the whistle on my kettle.

I feel like I have to follow Nono around my house turning things off.
Soon we're going to need a Nono-sitter. I'm not sure he can be left by
himself.

I'm pretty forgetful too. Am I going to end up like this? I guess I
better start taking my Ginkgo biloba.

David

The illegal immigrant next door

Read this. You owe it to yourself to understand the current politics surrounding immigration. Many of us have friends that are illegal immigrants.

For the last 20 years, the U.S. has had a hypocritical system of denying entry to Mexicans knowing full well they would come in illegally. You don't believe me? For those 20 years, business law stated you had to collect Social Security Numbers to pay taxes, but there was no need to actually check if they were valid.

So in Mexico, this is what people were taught: The U.S. wants you to come work and work illegally; this benefits their economy. It did benefit the economy. Why? Because it created a lower-class people within the U.S. (similar to slaves) who could be worked for little pay and had no rights. The economy grew and grew, with the small setback of illegals using a hospital without insurance everyonce in awhile.

Why do I say the illegals have no rights?

Let's say you're a poor illegal-immigrant woman. You might be married and have children. You have good credit. You have a house. You have a good job. You work hard, but it's worth it to live in the U.S. Then one day, your manager treats you wrongly. In fact, he takes advantage of you. He rapes you. Do you call the police? What if they find out your illegal? You might lose everything!

The easy way out for the U.S. is to not deal with these issues. Get on a high horse and say you came in "illegally" so get out. Let's put up a fence.

I'm all for the fence idea. We need to keep drugs out, terrorists out, etc.

But after the fence, give the people already in the country a chance. Let them stay. Let them come out of the dark. Also, as long as there are jobs available, open up immigration. When there aren't anymore jobs, they'll stop coming and go somewhere else. We all would do the same as them. I know I would.

I'm not an immigration lawyer, but I have illegal immigrant friends, and those are my thoughts.

Torie Baptism

David

Halloween Pics

Aster was Harry Potter
Kelsea was Hermoine (and looked just like her)
Torie was a sock hop girl (she learned the dance and everything)

David

Alan Greenspan

Here's the new book I'm reading. Greenspan's a genius. I feel like I now know a lot more about the country I live in.

My New Job

Hi family and friends,

Here's some happy news from me if you're interested at all. In a
completely unexpected turn of events, my dream job fell into my lap.

Back when I first started university classes, my original intention
was to study to work in a scientific field (biology). I took biology
classes, but with as single dad I didn't have enough time to really
pursue a degree.

I did earn a bachelor's degree in English instead (which came more
naturally to me), but the emphasis of my learning was on writing
technical research papers. I figured if I couldn't be a scientist, I'd
learn how to write papers for scientists.

Well, today I started as the manager of technical projects for
Isagenix's research and development department.

What does this mean? It means I work under the direction of Bill
Wheeler, Ph.D., who is Isagenix's Chief Science Officer. Bill has
asked me to write scientific research papers (executive summaries) on
his work with Isagenix nutritional products, to help develop and
improve them, and also to partially oversee label production.

I'll be learning a lot. Bill has quite a bit of experience. He has
published more than 276 scientific articles. He was the staff
nutritionist for President Reagan and President Carter. He also
advises professional athletes about nutrition and dietary supplements:
the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Dodgers, etc.

Before this change (for those that didn't know) I was Isagenix's
editor/manager of communications since May 2005. Chiefly doing
marketing/PR/journalism work, I managed the company's external and
internal newsletters.

Before that (for those that didn't know) I worked in a completely
unrelated field at Morgan Stanley for six years as a registered
securities broker.

David

Story Published

Chandler Republic published my short “community reaction” story on AZ Central: http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/0918cr-copreact.html

Orson Scott Card on Immigration

It's worth a complete read:
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2007-08-26-1.html
--
David

Peanut Butter Can Save the World

See how just a little peanut butter has helped curb malnutrition in
Africa http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=79736&m=1NIU913&c=jzmhfgsqdpibpkm

--
David

Boca beware

Today, River shut out Velez Sarsfield 5-0 with a hat trick from Fernando Belluschi.

Fernando Belluschi

After an amazing comeback a couple of years ago, Newell's Old Boys beat River Plate 4-2 (see video below). All this was due heavily to Fernando Belluschi, River Plate bought the player. In my opinion, he's the best player in Argentina right now. I hope Europe doesn't take him any time soon.

Pursuit of Happyness

OK, I usually try to avoid any Will Smith movie (and long e-mails),
but when my wife wanted to watch Pursuit of Happyness I joined her. It
wasn't a typical Will Smith movie.

Wow! Instead, I felt like I was watching a modified version of the
story of my own life. I couldn't believe it.

In early 2000 (the worst year of my life), I went through a nasty
divorce and was completely broke. This was made worse after an
investment that went sour.

Coincidences:

Like in the movie, I looked to getting my Series 7 brokerage license
as the only way to get my life back on track.

Like in the movie, I was also at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (the
companies had merged since the '80s and then became just Morgan
Stanley).

Like in the movie, I was also a single dad. But I was a single dad of
three kids under 5 years old (not just one).

Not like in the movie, this was in Utah. I never became homeless. I
had a salary. And I had good family and friends, which made the
biggest difference of all.

Like in the movie, I studied every moment I could for the Series 7. I
played electronic music late at night to keep me awake to learn about
stocks and bonds.

Like in the movie, I had to take my kids to day care early each
morning and pick them up at night. I had a car. I commuted from Orem
to Sandy in a beat up, old station wagon that was given to me. Later I
bought an old Montero (the wagon died).

When I passed the test (the only one in my class to even take it), I
was ecstatic, moved offices and became a trader. Ryan and his friends
moved in with me. Then I moved into the basement of my parents and
finally got custody of my kids.

Then, I found Patricia and married her in 2004. We bought a house. I
finished school. I got another job. Happy ever after!

The movie tore me up. See this movie.

David

Mormon entrepreneurship

Isagenix (my place of work) made the Inc. 5000. Proof we're growing so fast we can barely stand it.

But guess what city had the most Inc. 500 companies per million residents. The answer is... Provo, Utah. 12.7 total. (My hometown.)

Sedona photos

Our family went to Sedona with our friends Marcos, Jimena and their
two daughters. Here's some photos from Marcos's camera. I filmed so a
video will come soon.
--
David

D'alessandro, Aimar

I know no one cares, but I'm just tickled pink about watching another
season of Andres "Cabezon" D'alessandro and Pablo "Payaso" Aimar
together at Zaragoza.

Plus, Tevez at Man U.

--
David

Key to Happy Decisions

People often make really poor decisions. I'm one of them. And I blame it on three problems. My heart, mind and body. They often disagree. This happens to everybody.

The heart is fickle. It says, "I love you." Soon after, "I hate you." It makes decisions like this all the time. I love myself. I hate myself. Sometimes the heart gives good advice. Sometimes not.

The body is the most dangerous. It's the one that says to you, "hmm... she/he is hot!" The mind says, "but you'll regret it later. there's no benefit there." The heart says, "stay true to the woman you love, your wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, fianceé, whatever." In this case, you might want to follow your heart.

The mind is logical. But it has no heart or body. Sometimes, however, it has to fix what the body and heart do.

The key to happiness is making decisions that make all three happy. When you choose a significant other, the person should be attractive to you, logically satisfactory to your mind, and someone you love.

Food. Yes, this helps with food too. Think healthy, tasty and heart? Well, you might satisfy your heart by eating in a way that is beneficial to others. Eat with your family. Eat to benefit the environment. Eat to make your girl or boyfriend happy.

What you want is passion. Your heart, mind and body can all be passionate. When you find what creates passion for all three, you've found bliss.

Jack and me

--
David

How to Enjoy Losing

Most people hate losing. It's natural to our evolution. Ingrained in
our DNA is the equation anger = fear(loss). But what if when you lose,
you actually gain? Would you see it differently?

You actually learn much more when you lose than when you win. Each loss is a lesson. Winning is simply a confirmation of a lesson learned well.
But it takes some real brain strength to enjoy losing. In any place
anywhere, however, it's a secret to success.

When you are practicing life, find ways to lose. Lose frequently. Lose
hard. Learn well. Only do this in practice. That way when real-life
battles approach, you've learned all you can.

Consider this if you are ever a children's soccer coach. Chidhood is the perfect time to teach kids the right way to handle loss. Don't let your kids be sore losers! Yes, you want them to win, but teach them to see each loss as a lesson. Celebrate each loss too.

Confessions of An Economic Hitman

I can't help but recommend Confessions of an Economic Hitman. I know that it's shrouded in controversy and considered the work of a conspiracy theorist, but the dealings of the book make a lot of sense for why there's so much mala leche between South American countries and the United States.

Read the book! Let me know what you think.

Not only is the book interesting, it's written Graham Greene style—a hero of the author—always leaving you wanting more every chapter.

Darren Aronofsky movies The Fountain and Pi

I have my friend Joe to thank for turning me onto Darren Aronofsky
movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Aronosfsky's The Fountain and Pi. But
before you go off and rent these, it's best to prepare a little. The
movies are rich in mythological themes. I'll butcher these here.

The Fountain.

The Fountain's trailers (http://thefountainmovie.warnerbros.com/) will
tell you the movie's about a man named Tom (in three different ages,
as a warrior, scientist and astronaut) looking for a way to save his
queen, the woman he loves. He wants to conquer death for her. The
movie, however, is sooo much more.

The Tree of Life in the astronaut era is clearly taken from Norse
mythology Yggdrasil (the bubble around it gives it away). Yggdrasil
symbolizes the axis of the world; the tree is in the center of the
world. The World Tree had saved Líf and Lífthrasir, the only man and
woman to survive Ragnarok (the end of the world).

Tom in the movie fails to conquer death. Instead, what he finds is
rebirth in the same way Native Americans thought of rebirth, as well
as Christians. All throughout the Americas and other places around the
world there have been myths of a person who is killed so others would
live. This, somehow, is symbolized by food. Food represents the body.

The Iroquois tell a story about a man who dies, and out of his dead
body grows the first corn stalk. Whenever you eat corn, you eat of his
body.

Another Native American tribe uses a similar story to justify killing
of a buffalo. A father is killed by the buffalo; his daughter
resurrects him with song; the buffalo asks the daughter to sing the
song for any dead buffalo. They tell her they will willingly come to
be slaughtered if she'll sing the song to resurrect them. She does.
The tribe sings when they kill buffalo; this makes it ok to kill them.
It's a way of thanking the buffalo for their sacrifice. (Joseph Campbell tells it much better than I do.)

The Maya also have a Tree of Life sacrifice as portrayed in the movie.
They also believe the gods are the Milky Way, exactly where the
astronaut is heading. The astronaut eats of the tree to live. He and
the tree are really one.

Egyptians have Osiris. He was killed, thrown in the river Nile, and
when his sarcophagus came ashore a great tree grew around and
completely enveloped the tree.

And, of course, Christians believe in a God killed on a tree, who was
then resurrected. Think of the sacrament.

So what is "The Fountain." The very thing Tom is trying to conquer
(death), is in fact the fountain of life. He finds the tree of life,
he drinks from it, and what happens? I'll let you watch the movie.

Suffice to say, when I'm buried, I want a tree to be planted on top of me.

Pi.

Pi is about a number (3.14141414...) and a pattern that a
mathematician is trying to find—the pattern that describes life. Lots
of headaches trying to get to it.

He finds the pattern, but when his computer tries to print it out,
it's unraveled by its own make-up. The pattern unravels. And what does
it create? It creates life through spiralling upward from the
beginning of its pattern. The pattern of "chaos." The pattern of the
transcendent being. The pattern of the Torah.

And the pattern serves as a predictor. It can predict anything. What
is the spiral then? The spiral represents a brain, the make-up, the
DNA, all life. But that means it can also predict the stock market,
the way to beat a person in Go, chess, whatever. The main character
looks at a shell with a spiral. The spiral is in the Milky Way
(similar to The Fountain).

Pi includes many ideas of Dan Winter, founder of the San Graal School
for Sacred Geometry. According to the Internet, the guy's obsessed
with the Holy Grail, chaos theory, DNA, aliens, etc. Used to work for
IBM. He's a Celestine Prophecy guy. We know where that ends up (at
Machu Picchu and disappearing).

Dan believes people should not live in metal houses or they'll die
sooner; people should live in Mother Nature (See interview here
http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/A_Blissful_Interview_with_DAN_WINTER.htm).
Weird guy.

So there you go. Neat movies. Neat ideas. Enjoy!

CéU

Have you downloaded a CéU album yet? I love her music. http://www.ceumusic.com/

David

Zoroastrianism is Dying

Before there was Christianity and Islam, there was the ancient religion created by the prophet Zoroaster. I never knew about it. I didn't grow up learning about it. But the religion's ideas had forever changed the Western world; we all owe the popular idea of good God versus evil demon to this religion. Now the religion is dying.

It's called Zoroastrianism. The prophet Zoroaster had a vision that led an entire people off of ancient Buddhism.

Ancient Buddhism believed the earth had pleasure and suffering. The only way to enlightenment was to separate yourself, to reach nirvana. Meditate and don't cause suffering. Also, don't have any pleasure. Barely anyone could do this.

In Zoroaster's vision there was Arhura Mazda (meaning "Light"). Mazda was a particular God (among many) that loved the human race. So humans worshipped him. After all, anything good that happened came from Mazda. Anything bad, by other gods. The only way to be saved was through Mazda. Do the things that helped Mazda bring pleasure to people. Die and go to a lovely place. Do the things that cause suffering and be destroyed.

In Joseph Campbell words, Mazda was the personification of everything good. His jealous rival Angra Mainyu was the personification of all evil.

The Egyptians jumped on the Zoroastrian idea of having an afterlife, plus Good gods and Bad gods. This is clear in the Isis/Osiris/Horus myth.

And Islam and Christianity were born from it. Christianity, in fact, was a result of merging ideas of Judaism, Zoraster, Egyptian and pagan myths all together to create one. Before Mohammed, Iranians all worshipped Mazda. But the idea is basically the same. You have to get to heaven through a representative of Good.

Judaism evolved from Zoroastrian ideas too. In ancient Judaism, according to Anthony Mercatante, God created both pleasure and suffering, good and bad. You thanked God for the good and if you suffered, it's because God willed it. The chosen people are saved at the end. Later Judaism was changed. God only creates good things now, not bad. The devil does bad; he causes suffering. Ancient judaism would've never given the devil such power.

But there are few Zoroastrians left. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. The religion's law of not allowing converts has led to its doom. Some Zoroastrians are trying to change the law. Eventually, maybe it will change. But nonetheless, we mustn't forget this ancient religion.

Kids back tomorrow

I miss my kids a lot; they're coming back tomorrow. So today, it's up to me to get the house ready and go buy a fish (Kelsea's beta died while she was away; my fault). Can't wait to see them. I'll take pictures Saturday.

moby's post

I totally agree with moby's June 8 post. There's a ton of media attention directed on global warming, the environment, etc. But hardly any in the U.S. is about one of the world's main pollutants: livestock. Just by dropping our meat consumption by 10%-20%, heart disease could cease to be the No. 1 killer in America, we'd save a ton of rain forest, we'd save a ton of water, and we'd free enough grain to feed all the people in all third-world countries. Eat less meat, for your health and the world.

Thanks moby, for being a sane voice this week (it's not always sane).

Joseph Campbell's Mythic Reflections

Mythic Reflections is famous for being one of the times when Joseph Campbell openly criticized the Bible in an interview with Tom Collins saying it was "tribally circumscribed mythology," which meant that it directly claims one tribe to be better than all others. One tribe has a God who loves them; no one else does.

Then, when Collins annoyingly tries to get Campbell to try to reconcile the Bible's "seven-day creation" with evolution, Campbell dismisses the discussion as being as useless as trying to reconcile evolution with the Navajo creation myth.

On these points, a lot of people dismiss this interview and miss the wisdom in it.

This interview was hugely moving for me, however. Not because of the above, but because of why Campbell's explanation. He talks of a "transcendent energy" all humans feel. He explains that humans come up with Gods as a way of personifying that transcendent energy so we can actually talk about transcendent elements. What a concept! What a way to explain why there's a mythology for every culture.

I took something else away from this interview. I stopped being a theologian; I quit looking for answers in scripture and started being a mystic. I decided to listen to my inner-core spirit a little more. Staying away from doctrine, what are my morals? What does this transcendent energy tell me is right and wrong?

Let me know what you think of the interview.

Uruguay should've beat Brazil

Uruguay was better than Brazil today... I hate penalty kicks.

Bitty Headache

My head hurts a bit. Kinda like it wants to fall down on a pillow, but once it's there, it gets bored and I pop it back up to type some more.

This helps.

Kids flew to Idaho

Aster, Kelsea and Torie flew with their grandparents to Idaho today. It was the first time aboard a plane for Kelsea and Torie. Torie said, "It wasn't scary at all. The cars were sooo little. When we landed, it was like we were in another world. We went through lots of clouds. Daddy, are clouds really made out of water? Wow. I guess the plane must've gotten really wet."

F. Molina Campos

Patricia and I are looking through Florencio Molina Campos paintings of the vida campestre. Campos captures the life of my Argentine gaucho ancestry in a delightful way.

Pigeons pooped on the kids today

We went to the park in Mesa to go birdwatching. We spotted a male and female great-tailed grackles, a bewick's wren, a male house sparrow, mallard ducks, and plenty of rock pigeons. Aster, Kelsea and Torie layed hesitantly on the lawn and placed bread crumbs on top of themselves. The gluttonous pigeons happily took the feast and happily rewarded the kids with pecking, scratches, and stains on their clothes.

The kids had a great time. We had to get out of the house because (after plenty of procrastination) we finally had a carpet cleaner come out to remove marker, glue, paint and Lucy markings from our carpet. It took a heap of chemicals.

Dinosaur Letter

Aster got a letter (he wrote to himself) from his dinosaur friend and it goes like this:

Dear Boy,

I had a great time at the party with all of those delicious elk. I would've liked it more if you were on the menu. You should have tricked some of those plant-eating dinos to come. There weren't too many raptors at the party. I hope you didn't mind all the bones and blood everywhere. The deer were a good snack. Tyrannosaurus ate most of the food.

Your prehistoric friend,
Raptor

Kelsea at the Top of Her Class

I'm a proud daddy today. The school year's ending and I just received a call from Mrs. Polillo—Kelsea's third-grade teacher—to tell me that Kelsea (yes, my daughter) has earned the most Accelerated Reader points in her class. What are AR points? AR points are how elementary school teachers test reading proficiency.

I'm actually not at all surprised by this news. How many nine-year-olds are thrilled to go on a trip to Barnes and Noble? One time when we went, I bought Kelsea a hot chocolate and she got halfway through a junior version of The Secret Garden. She read 80 pages that night! I'm not surprised. But I'm sure proud. (Did I mention I was proud?)